Pizza Hut 2015 Annual Report Download - page 50

YUM! BRANDS, INC.-2016Proxy Statement36
Proxy Statement
MATTERS REQUIRING SHAREHOLDER ACTION
Why does the Company oppose the proposal?
Yum! Brands complies with the food safety and labeling
laws in every market in which it operates, and is committed
to ensuring that our products adhere to the highest standards
of food safety and quality. We fully believe that our current
efforts regarding foods developed through biotechnology
are appropriate for our circumstances.
Rather than diverting attention to GMO issues, our brands
are already addressing more material aspects of transparency
and clean labeling. We are leaders in our industry in providing
more choice for consumers, more transparency about
product nutrition, and more nutritional improvement in our
ingredients. For example, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut have
removed or have plans to remove artificial flavors and colors.
Taco Bell is working on additional ingredient simplification
by removing artificial preservatives and additives, where
possible, and was one of the first quick service restaurants
to post ingredient statements and full nutrition information
online. To understand our strategies in these areas, we
invite all stakeholders to visit www.yumcsr.com/food/.
With respect to GMOs, we do not believe our shareholders
would benefit if mandatory labeling applied to our company,
but not to others in our industry. Assuming it was even
feasible, GMO labeling would inevitably drive higher costs
throughout our system and result in higher prices for our
consumers. As a result of the widespread use of GMOs, it
would be overly burdensome, if not impossible, to identify
every GMO ingredient in every source of food products.
Worse yet, this shareholder proposal inappropriately attempts
to conflate the issues of GMOs and consumer health. Given
the prevalence of GMOs and the determinations of safety
made by leading authorities, labeling GMOs could risk
creating substantial consumer confusion.
While approaches to mandate GMO labeling are problematic,
we do support federal legislation in the United States to
establish a national uniform standard for labeling products
that are GMO-free, in order to ensure that consumers are
not misled. Such an approach would ensure that when
consumers wish to purchase products made without GMOs,
they are able to do so with confidence. We also support
organics labeling regimes, such as the U.S. Department of
Agriculture’s current system of certifying products that meet
the standards of its National Organics Program. For
consumers seeking products that do not intentionally contain
GMOs, they already have the option to purchase foods
bearing the organic label. As a leading restaurant company,
Yum! Brands will continue to evaluate its policies regarding
the labeling of GMO ingredients in light of any changes in
the scientific and regulatory environments, as well as
consumer preferences.
What vote is required to approve this proposal?
Approval of this proposal requires the affirmative vote of a majority of the shares present in person or represented by proxy
and entitled to vote at the Annual Meeting.
What is the recommendation of the Board of Directors?
The Board of Directors recommends that you vote AGAINST this proposal.